About two weeks ago, I had my second. I was tailgating during a Lebanon Valley College football game, and I was in the horse pasture that overlooks the north end zone (because I can see the field better from there, because it’s on a hill, than from our traditional spot right behind the north end zone). Anyway, I happened to glance up, and there was this big old bald eagle soaring and circling overhead. Not very high, either — not like the first one I saw back in January. There was certainly no mistaking what it was. I pointed it out to the guys I was tailgating with, and I texted my friends down at field level, and we all got a thrill. (A little later in the game the Goodyear blimp flew overhead. I thought the eagle was cooler.)

Well, yesterday was my third sighting and today my fourth. Actually, the bird I saw yesterday was probably the same one I saw today, so maybe that counts as only one.

I was driving home from work yesterday. I had just turned onto Louser Road from Route 934, and I saw it swooping back and forth, low over the field to the north of Louser (the one that’s slated to get a housing development soon). I stopped the car to watch. I would venture that it was an adolescent or very young adult, because it had the adult plumage (white head and white tail — very distinctive) but was not nearly as large as the one I saw at the football game. I watched it for a full minute or two before I developed the presence of mind to pull my iPhone from its holster to shoot some video. By the time I got ready, the bird had begun to move southwest, in the general direction of my house, so I put the car in motion and tried to film it as it crossed Louser and soared above the meadow where I always run the dogs.

Note to kids: I do not recommend shooting video with your iPhone while driving. Not only was I obviously not paying very good attention to the road, but apparently I wasn’t paying very good attention to the other task either because when I got home and watched the video I’d shot, it was pretty South Annville scenery but no eagle was in it.

So this morning as I prepared to enter my bath, I happened to glance out the bathroom window, which looks toward the back of the property and the treeline that separates my yard from the big farm field beyond, and just as I did I caught a glimpse of an eagle pulling up and settling down onto a bare branch high up in one of the trees. Although it was close to me — less than 50 yards — my view was somewhat obscured view because the tulip poplar behind that part of the house still had about half its leaves.

I could tell it was not a full-grown bird (hence my surmise that it was the same one I had seen the day before). I could see it bending its neck and pulling at something that appeared to be in its talons. I assume it was tearing apart something it had caught, perhaps one of my squirrels or a fish from Bachman Run down across the meadow.

I didn’t get a picture, obviously, or you’d be looking at it. But from what I read bald eagles in this part of the world generally don’t migrate; they overwinter. So perhaps my distinguished guest will show himself again, and if he does rest assured I will try to capture his image.

Here’s the thing: Ten months ago, I had never seen a bald eagle. Now I’ve seen four, one of them in my own back yard. I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but nature never ceases to amaze me.